At 3 o`clock you could sense that many fans were wondering which Hearts team would turn up today – the one that beat Celtic in November, or the one which lost heavily at Parkhead in midweek. As things turned out, the performance was nearer November`s than Wednesday`s – thankfully – with Hearts dominating the entire match, although finding a way through the Perth defence was certainly a challenge.
Jim Jefferies showed his displeasure from Wednesday by replacing Stevenson, Elliott, Jonsson, Mrowiec and Templeton with Thomson, Black, Obua and Glen and Suso. A good crowd of over 14,000 turned out on a cold and damp Saturday to watch this match.
The home side got off to a great start, taking the lead after 3 minutes through Rudi Skacel. Kello`s high kick out was won in the air by Suso – yes, wee Suso – and his header found Craig Thomson on the right wing. His inch-perfect pass into the box evaded a defender and Rudi slid the ball past keeper Enckelman.
Lee Wallace was combining well with Skacel, Obua and Palazuelos to create some fine attacking runs into the box. Two of these should have led to goals – the first when his perfect ball to the far post found Suso half asleep, and the second was a neat pass to Gary Glen who wasn’t quick enough to evade his marker.
The second-half brought no more goals, although Hearts ought to have claimed at least 2. Fine play between Wallace and Glen produced a perfect cut-back to Skacel whose right-foot shot was straight at the keeper. Hearts introduced Stephen Elliott and Andrew Driver to replace Glen and Suso midway through the half – and it was a couple of brilliant dribbles from Driver which set up great chances for Elliott, but both were missed.
Stevenson replaced Skacel as St. Johnstone made a push for an equaliser – their best chance coming in the final minute when May fired in a close range shot which Kello brilliantly saved at his near post.
With Obua having clearly been asked to be Kevin Kyle for the day, there was a lack of understanding in the forward line due to the random directions in which Obua would knock the ball. Consequently, Glen regularly appeared to be slow in going for the ball. Having said that, both players made some valuable contributions throughout the game – although most fans would probably prefer to see Kyle alongside either Stephen Elliott or David Templeton.
There were fine performances from Wallace, Thomson, Bouzid, Black and Suso today, with a very welcome 20 minutes for Andrew Driver. You`d hope that a wee rest for Templeton will help him challenge Driver and Suso for his place next month, while it would be great to get Kyle back.
On the back of Wednesday`s disappointment, Hearts could have dropped points to the team which put them out the Scottish Cup 3 weeks ago – so it was very satisfying to see our favourites get back on the winning trail with a decent performance too.
We can now only wait and wonder at how Hearts will perform at Ibrox on Wednesday !!
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very happy with this one, particularly as we changed half the team and saw driver return. I was only listening to the radio, but sounded like wallace was back at his best too. I dont imagine we’ll start obua and glen at Ibrox, more likely steven elliott / stevenson i’d think but the team did well today, except for the finishing whick i hope they’ve been saving up for Rangers ;o)
Yes, let’s hope we’re saving up the goal glut for Wed (thats FOR, not AGAINST !!).
I was very encouraged with this response shown yesterday. JJ made the right move in freshening up the team and Thomson, Suso and Glen coming in really did give the team a lot more bite. The first half was probably the best we’ve played since Inverness in December…hopefully we can keep it going to ‘turn up’ on Wednesday night….